Hello Everyone, My name is Tipsy32 and I am a Xerath one trick in NA that has started to play him in the support lane. This is mainly a lower Elo guide, for the Highest rank i have achieved is Gold V last season. I currently have over 650,000 MPs on Xerath and have played him since season seven.v

Xerath is a squishy, poke heavy artillery mage that has long range and high DPS with a weak early game and strong late game. at 18 and with four items, Xerath is able to kill the enemy ADC from across the map with his ultimate, or even steal objectives as well as granting vision. He is immobile and requires some time to get used to his polarizing kit. Xerath is strong in the short engages and at dwindling down the health bar of enemies from a safe distance, making him a great counter in a healing/supportive support meta.

I am Starting the guide at early game because the ability & build notes have all of my thoughts on his optimal spells, itemization and pros and cons. In the early game you want to identify which enemy laner will be easiest to bring below fifty percent health. Usually this will be the AD Carry, but on cases such as kalista, vayne. These mobile champions/ champs with a dodge ability can make it hard for your Q to hit, and thus you lose mana but gain nothing in return. This is when the support becomes the target. having a low enemy support or ADC makes the enemies scared and play safer, giving you more room to continue the harass. In the lower elos, due to supports playing safer and being reactive, i have seen myself get to the 500 gold support quest several minutes ahead of the enemy support.

When trying to hit your Q, DO NOT AIM THROUGH THE MINION LINE. Your support item is going to stall regen, your adc will be behind in farm and everyone will have a bad time. Try aiming it so you do not hit too many minions while still attempting to hit the champions. If you are under turret alone because your Carry died, TAKE THE FARM. it will make up and it is better than gold go to you than be lost to turret. your support item should be back to normal by the time your ADC is back,and you can amass a bigger lead on the enemy laners.

Harassment is the name of the game early on, and hitting your stunt on an enemy can cause so much damage to them, sometimes being enough to force a back or lost in farm.

around this time, if everything is even, should be a good time to start farming. Your gold regen no longer is stopped by killing minions, meaning that as long as you are with someone in your team, you can easily make 66 gold by hitting turret or hitting shots on enemies. Massive damage becomes easily available by the time you hit your two items, Morello and Ludens. poke and stay in the back while warding objectives and the enemy jungle.

I consider Xerath to be in the late game by the time he has four items, including deathcap. You are hurting people who do not have defenses and you are chunking the ones that do for your teammates. Ultimate is maxed out meaning that it can be fun to snipe things, such as the enemy jungler while they attempt to sneak baron, making it an immediate 5v4. Your damage output makes you a second laner, in case the midlaner is not doing so hot. Damage dealing and defensiveness are the name of the game in this stage, and getting caught out cannot be acceptable. Your deaths should be kept low given that you are dishing out more damage in a Q than traditional supports deal in a whole rotation. Dark Harvest also comes into play given that your Qs hit like a truck once they are under 50% and have no MR.

Xerath is a rewarding champion to play and really teaches you about macro play as well as dodging skillshots and predicting movement from enemies, skills that can be used on other champions. The champion is extremely useful if you want to feel like a complete lane bully and stay ahead. The main concern that people have with a Support Xerath ist that it is gold reliant. While it is understandable, a higher aggressiveness in play can give you more gold from kills and assists, as well as hitting your abilities with Frostfang grants you around 70 gold every 30 seconds. Yes, that is less than farming, but combining that with the waveclear and farming that you do post 18 minutes and you have a second AP carry who can help if the midlaner falls behind or is more defensive than usual. While i do enjoy playing xerath in the midlane, the rise of assassins and high mobility champions such as Zed,talon, akali and irelia have made it difficult to not get screwed over after level six. The game is much more exciting when you do not die and are making plays, and xerath in the support lane helps with feeling that way.